Publication - Advice and guidance

Welcome to Scotland: a guide for Service personnel and their families in Scotland (updated 2025)

Published: 1 April 2025
From: Minister for Higher and Further Education
Directorate: Safer Communities Directorate
Topic: Children and families, Communities and third sector, Education, +5 more … Equality and rights, Health and social care, Housing, Money and tax, Work and skills
ISBN: 9781836913993

Welcome to Scotland is a guide to support service personnel and their families upon their move to Scotland. Due to the moving nature of service personnel and their families they can be transferred to different bases. This guide gives key information on what to expect when moving to Scotland.

Supporting documents

Supporting You

The Scottish Government greatly values and supports our Armed Forces personnel, veterans and families and recognises the contribution they make to their communities. We have a great network of organisations in Scotland, which can help and support serving personnel and their families. For example:

Forces Children Scotland

Forces Children Scotland help children and young people from serving, reservist and veteran families across Scotland grow in confidence, develop new skills and gain valuable experiences by co-producing projects and services to support mental health and wellbeing, education and learning and putting their unique experiences on the radar of civilian audiences.

Support across these areas can be found on the Forces Children Scotland website.

Forces Children’s Education

Forces Children’s Education is a website which provides clear and accurate information for education professionals and Armed Forces families in Scotland. The Scottish Government, Local Authorities and schools are working hard to ensure that moving to Scotland has a positive effect on the educational outcomes of children from Armed Forces families. This website has been created in order to bring all these efforts together and put the resources that parents and the education professionals who support their children need, together in one place.

Resources and support can be accessed on the Forces Children’s Education website.

HIVE

On behalf of the Chain of Command Army HIVE delivers information support for the whole military community on a wide variety of topics affecting your everyday Service and personal life, including relocation, accommodation, health and wellbeing, childcare and education, employment, finance, deployment, resettlement, and the local area.

The service is free and available wherever you are in the world. HIVE staff can research information on your behalf and are also able to provide confidential signposting to further sources of support. If you’re considering overseas postings or already at post, the iHIVE (International HIVE) also provides location-specific guides and information.

If you’re Service Personnel, a partner or wider family member, veteran or MOD civilian, HIVE support is available face-to-face through a worldwide network of Information Centres and also online. Find out more via their website and social media:

www.army.mod.uk/hives

www.twitter.com/ArmyHIVEinfo

www.facebook.com/ArmyHIVE

www.instagram.com/ArmyHIVEinfo/

Families Federations

There are three Families Federations representing each of the three services, Navy, Army and RAF. Each of the Family Federations is independent from the services and works to improve the quality of life for Service families around the world on any aspect that is affected by the military lifestyle.

They also provide a signposting service to help you find the right person to speak to, as well as providing useful information for Service families.

The Army Families Federation and Naval Families Federation have specialist immigration advisors who are registered with the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA), they provide free and confidential advice and support on immigration for HM Forces. This service is available for serving personnel, veterans, and their family members.

More information on the individual Families Federations can be found via:

Naval Families Federation

Phone: 023 9265 4374

Website: https://nff.org.uk/

Army Families Federation

Phone: 01264 554004

Website: https://aff.org.uk/

RAF Families Federation

Phone: 01780 781650

Website: www.raf-ff.org.uk/

Forces Young Carers

A young carer is someone aged under 18 or 18 and still at school who cares for a friend or family member who, due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction, cannot cope without their support.

Caring for a family member can have an impact on young carers mental health and wellbeing, as well as their ability to learn and future life chances. Caring can also be an isolating experience but having the right support in place can give young carers a better chance of succeeding in all parts of their lives.

Due to regular relocation, young people from forces families are less likely to be identified as young carers, and as a result may not receive the same level of support as young carers from civilian families. Some young carers may not even realise what they are doing for their family member is considered a caring role The challenges of being a young carer are amplified in armed forces families, where moves and deployments can change the carer’s role unexpectedly, a child or young person’s responsibilities might begin or increase temporarily or for the long term, if for example they their parent is injured in service.

In Scotland, a young carer is a carer who is either under 18 years old or is over 18 but still at school. Young carers have legal rights as carers under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, this includes the right to a young carer statement. Some may also have rights as a child in need of care and support under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

To find out where your local young carers and carer organisation is based for further information, support and advice, including on short break support, find contact details here: Carer centres | Care Information Scotland.

Young carers aged 11- 18 can sign up to the Young Scot Young Carer Package, this includes digital vouchers, awards, prizes and opportunities. You can sign up here: Young Carers Package – Young Scot

Young carers aged 16-18 who meet the eligibility criteria can apply for a Young Carer Grant. A yearly payment of £383.75. You can find out more here: Young Carer Grant - mygov.scot

Forces Children Scotland have some discretionary grants for young carers. Contact enquiries@forceschildrenscotland.org.uk for more information.

If you are a young carer from a Naval family you may be entitled to a grant from the Naval Children’s Charity: Help – Naval Childrens Charity

For advice and support about your child’s education : Enquire - The Scottish advice service for additional support for learning

For further information and support to young carers in Scotland. Please see the following links:-

Young Carers – Young Scot

Extra support for young carers - mygov.scot